Jeff Beck - 2000 "You Had It Coming"

You Had It Coming is the eighth studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released in 2000 through Epic Records. The album reached No. 17 and 110 on the Billboard Top Internet Albums and Billboard 200 charts respectively, as well as No. 96 and 123 on the German and French albums chart. "Dirty Mind", went on to win the award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 2002 Grammys; this being Beck's third such award, after the albums Flash (1985) and Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop (1989). Singer Imogen Heap is featured on "Dirty Mind" and "Rollin' and Tumblin'", and would later tour with Beck in 2004.

Jeff Beck returns two years after the ten-years-in-the-making Who Else?, and You Had It Coming isn't surprising just for its rapidity, but for its music. From the moment the electronicized, post-rave beats of "Earthquake" kick off the record, it's clear that Beck isn't content to stay in place -- he's trying to adapt to the modern world. To a certain extent, this isn't an entirely new phenomenon, since each of his records is clearly, inextricably of its time, from the crunching metal of Truth through the breezy jazz fusion of Blow By Blow to the modernized album rock of Guitar Shop. This is just another side of that, as Beck works with electronic music, both noisy and new age introspective. It's a bit clever, actually, since Beck's playing has always been otherworldly, dipping, bending, and sounding like anything other than a normal guitar. The problem is, when he's surrounded by lockstep, processed beats and gurgling synths, his guitar doesn't leap to the forefront and capture attention the way it does on his best recordings. Still, there's something to be said for the effort, because even if it doesn't sound like a Beck record, it isn't a bad record, and it's certainly a helluva lot more successful than Clapton's similar forays into these waters. Besides, knowing that he knocked this out so quickly makes it a little endearing.

Track listing:

01.    "Earthquake"    Jennifer Batten    3:18
02.    "Roy's Toy"    Jeff Beck, Aidan Love, Andy Wright    3:35
03.    "Dirty Mind"    Beck, Love, Wright    3:50
04.    "Rollin' and Tumblin'"    Muddy Waters    3:12
05.    "Nadia"    Nitin Sawhney    3:50
06.    "Loose Cannon"    Beck, Batten, Wright    5:17
07.    "Rosebud"    Beck, Randy Hope-Taylor, Wright    3:44
08.    "Left Hook"    Beck, Steve Alexander, Wright    4:22
09.    "Blackbird"    Beck    1:27
10.    "Suspension"    Beck, Wright    3:20
Total length:    35:55

Personnel:

    Jeff Beck – guitar
    Jennifer Batten – guitar
    Imogen Heap – vocals (tracks 3, 4)
    Aidan Love – programming
    Steve Alexander – drums
    Randy Hope-Taylor – bass